Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Snoo, if you didn’t know, is reddit’s alien mascot. Initially created by /u/kn0thing as a doodle whilst at UVA, Snoo underwent several revisions (and got its name) in its transformation from hypnotic-eyed sketch to grinning internet emblem.
Genderless, timeless and digit-less1, Snoo now appears throughout reddit in various flavors. Staff avatars, masthead logos and as the mascot for thousands of different subreddits. Here is but a smattering:

I have been so impressed by the sheer variety that I have undertaken the rather epic quest to collect as many flavors of Snoo as possible. You can read the full details of the project, including how to submit your Snoo, here.
In a nutshell I am asking moderators to submit their subreddit’s Snoo in vector format in a gargantuan effort to create something like this (but with less Digletts, obviously). If a subreddit you frequent has a Snoo you like, message the mods and see if they’ve submitted it.If a subreddit you visit or mod doesn’t have a custom Snoo, maybe now is the time to create one. You can download the base files here. Alternatively, you could ask one of the many art oriented subreddits if they might be able to give you a hand, like /r/redditlogos. /u/chromakode has created this handy sheet to assist in the creation process.

And finally, some wise words for alien artists found deep within our art repo. Penned by /u/kn0thing, they offer insight into some of the finer points of alien scribbling:

The alien has two ears. I don't know what they're for, exactly, but they're the most often forgotten part of the alien's body.
Less is more. Take a look at these alien doodles through history and notice that it rarely gets extra details beyond eyebrows and modified hands. Always working with a small canvas, drawing more just meant more mess.
When the alien needs a special hand (like to wield a sword) try to stick to basic shapes and avoid drawing every individual finger, it creeps me out a little to see the alien with fingers. Don't let any more of these images haunt me as I sleep.
The alien's eyes are #FF4500 (aka, orangered); don't let anyone tell you otherwise.